Paid media and measurement · Preregistered incentive-compatible randomized field experiment
Where Does Advertising Content Lead You? We Created a Bookstore to Find Out
Morozov, I., & Tuchman, A. (2024). Marketing Science, 43(5), 986–1001.
Plain-English take
Ad content can polarize consumer responses. For your marketing: Test how creative changes demand across audience segments, not only average clicks.
How much weight to give this
4.0/5 Useful evidence with meaningful caveats
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
Random assignment provides a strong comparison for effects in the tested setting.
A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.
Randomized comparison; confirm the control condition and analysis in the paper.
This profile could be checked against an abstract or metadata, not the full paper.
Double-blind? Blinding is not reported in the source reviewed; that does not establish whether blinding was or was not used.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How does the content of a display ad affect what consumers search for and buy?
Design
The authors created an online bookstore and ran a preregistered incentive-compatible experiment, randomly varying ad exposure and the content shown in ads to store visitors.
Sample and setting
Visitors to an experimental online bookstore; the publisher abstract does not state the sample size.
Reported result
What the study found
Ad content can polarize consumer responses. Depending on how many consumers favor the advertised genre, the same content can increase or decrease the total number of searches and purchases for the advertised book.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
An experimental bookstore and book genres are a specific setting; the abstract does not establish equivalent effects for SaaS ads or report the sample count. Search and purchase responses depend on audience composition.
Possible founder application
Test how creative changes demand across audience segments, not only average clicks. Identify which visitors the message attracts or repels and connect ad response to meaningful product outcomes.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract; full text access may vary
INFORMS publisher record and abstract; publication date and journal issue checked against publisher metadata.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.